We’re just one day from spring training, and this is how I feel. We’re almost there…
Will our ragtag band of rebels manage to destroy the Death Star in Washington? Or will our best efforts merely shake them but fail to blow up the battle station?
I’m trying to think of analogies for all the characters. Here’s the best I can do:
Luke — Justin Upton
Leia — B.J. Upton
Han — Jason Heyward
Chewbacca — Craig Kimbrel
Biggs — Eric O’Flaherty
Wedge — Jonny Venters
R2-D2 — Brian McCann
C-3PO — Kris Medlen
Obi-Wan — Chipper Jones
Yoda — Bobby Cox
Any other ideas? Please let me know in the comments!
Well, aside from Medlen obviously being better suited for the height-challenged R2-D2 rather than 3PO, I like the list.
Just don’t tell BJ he’s a chick. 🙂
Heh, yeah. I wonder if the Uptons read this blog?
I couldn’t make Medlen R2-D2, just because McCann has a lot more in common with R2’s physical build than anyone else on the team. Obviously, Brian’s taller than R2, but they both share that round, barrel chest.
Jabba the Hut = Dan Kolb
Pizza the Hut = Melky Cabrera
Someone should link to each players’ write up on their respective Twitter feeds.
R2-D2 and McCann have great skills of analysis . McCann knows batters and R2-D2 knows computer systems.
Amazing idea, AAR!
Jar-Jar Binks: Fredi Gonzalez
Admiral Ackbar: Frank Wren
Greedo: Jonathan Papelbon
Anakin: Bryce Harper (with the full potential to turn to Vader; right now he’s just annoying)
Cantina bartender (http://tinyurl.com/6bwg5bm): Julian Taveraz
Palpatine: Ted Lerner
Mace Windu: Tim Hudson
Boba Fett: Strasburg
Lando Calrissian: Andruw Jones
If I may take mild issue, Jar-Jar is clearly DOB, and Palpatine is Loria.
Okay, Fredi can be that boss guy (Boss Nass?). Loria is certainly evil incarnate, but it’s more of an idiotic evil rather than a malicious evil. If he ever fields a half-competitive team, then he can become the Emperor.
They won a WS more recently than we have –
True, true. You do raise an excellent point; however, Palpatine would have rather obliterated his Death Star (which wasn’t funded by the taxpayers of Aldeeran, thank you very much) rather than allow this:
http://tinyurl.com/a5po7f5
anywhere within 97 parsecs of it.
Scott Proctor as Luke’s tauntaun. Never able to regain form after surgery….
Eric Gregg as the Sarlaac
Bob Wickman as Jabba
I kind of feel like Palpatine is Selig.
Mac is “the force”
@13 – This thread is over.
Bryce Harper is Darth Vader
I would have to think that going to the dark side would mean playing for the Mets.
The Trade Federation – Mets
Qui-Gon Jinn – Greg Maddux
Padme Amidala – Stan Kasten
Storm Troopers – Jeff Francoeur, Delmon Young
17, That may be the most apt equivalent of the Mets, anywhere and in any universe.
Smitty
With respect, for me, Darth Vader will always be Jeff Francoeur.
I nominate Buster Posey for Jabba the Outt
Jane Fonda=Barbarella.
Palpatine…the umpire who called the infield fly rule.
Darth Maul — Shane Victorino
Is it a foregone conclusion that Corky Miller plays all the ewoks at once? If not, Brooks Conrad & Marcus Giles could also fit. Also, I feel like there’s got to be a way to relate the “It’s a Trap” scene to the Teixeira deal somehow
@22
Was going to post that same thing.
Jane Fonda is the dancer who gets eaten by the Rancor in Return of the Jedi.
Off topic, but there was a ton of love for Skyfall on here months back. Good movie, but not great.
***SPOLIER ALERT***
Is anyone else concerned that ending at Skyfall was stolen from Home Alone? Gimmicky traps built in an old house keeping trained assassins at bay. I kept waiting for the Wet Bandits to drop from the stealth helicopter and step on a rake.
Also saw Argo. Awesome film.
C’mon guys, we all know McCann is ROTJ-era Leia – you know, the chafracter who gets shot IN THE SHOULDER (emphasis added – d’uh!).
R2D2 – c’mon – Dan Uggla, anyone?
Wedge – Andrelton Simmons; young, go-getter, not counted on to carry the attack by himself…
Generic Stormtrooper #4 – Francoeur the Incompetent.
@26- I tend to agree. Plus the bad guy’s whole Joker act…. I dunno. The set pieces were great, but I wasn’t wild about the plot.
@26: Here’s a funny installment from the “Honest Trailers” series that makes the same comparison with Home Alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWfg__wKSY
FWIW, it doesn’t bother me. Context is everything, and there’s nothing new under the sun. I can still laugh at the HT clip, though.
Thanks for the link Mark, that was hilarious!
A quick bleg. I find myself in Downtown Austin today. Throwing myself at the mercy of my most knowledgable friends on the net, anybody got a lunch recommendation they can shoot at me in the next hour? Thanks to all. I eat just about anything.
If it was not Monday franklins bbq is amazing, Smiths market is bbq and fresh food at its bet
@26 I freaking loved the ending. I geeked out when I realized it was going to be a booby trap moshpit of awesome.
26 – I just felt like the ending was over the top. I’ll have to check out the link on HT later.
Remembering the “Wet Bandits” cracked me up.
I watched Casino Royale again this weekend. Still good!
@31 – It’s not exactly downtown but if you have a car there is a mexican place called Juan in a Million that is great. Probably a mile from downtown Austin. You won’t regret it.
@29 – Thanks for sharing. I love that someone else noticed this. My wife fell asleep during the movie and later asked how the ending was….I told her “it was just like Home Alone”. She will not be watching the rest of the movie.
JonF,
If you like BBQ…
Iron Works BBQ on Red River St.
Lamberts BBQ Downtown, 401 W. 2nd St
Both joints are terrific.
@34 – Juan in a Million…. what a great name for a restaurant.
The Star Wars analogies are great. However, I refuse to imagine ANY male in the Princess Leia slave costume.
edit: @29 terrific link. funny very funny. I never thought about the Home Alone thing until then.
Princess Leia is Beth Keener, duh.
I haven’t seen every installment, but MLB Network has been running a series called “Top Ten Right Now” wherein they identify the ten best shortstops, ten best third-basemen, etc., er, right now.
So far, not a lot of Braves have shown up. McCann, yes, and at least one of the Uptons and J-Hey.
Anyone else I missed?
Btw, they’ve got Elvis ranked at or near the top of shortstops. Tell me again why we made that trade?
McCann, J-Hey and JUpton are shoo-ins. Andrelton Simmons is a top 10 shortstop (despite what MLB Network might think). And unless one believes that Shin-Soo Choo can really play centerfield, and that both Angel Pagan and Dexter Fowler are better, BJ Upton is also a top 10 centerfielder. That’s potentially five positions and I suspect few teams can boast better.
We probably don’t have any top ten SPs but at least one and arguably two relievers (are there nine relievers not named Kimbrel that are better than O’Flaherty?).
@39 I’ve seen them all, and felt the Braves were well represented. Here’s who made the lists (The Shredder’s, anyway)
C: McCann
RP: Kimbrel & EOF
RF: Heyward (Bill James had him at #1, the Shredder at #3) & J. Upton
2B: Uggla
It’s likely the only thing keeping Simmons off the list was sample size. He’ll be on it next year. And Bill James had Freeman in his top ten, and I suspect he’ll make The Shredder’s with another solid year as well. I can very easily conceive Medlen cracking the SP list next year too.
I’d be interested in seeing team tallies from the top tens, but I can’t imagine many with more than us.
On the other hand, former Braves Bourn and Prado also made their respective lists.
Prado in LF or 3B
Here’s another way to look at things: We’re going into this season with either the best or second best outfield in the majors, and we’ve got the best bullpen in the majors too.
@42 It was LF
McCann, Simmons, Uggla, Heyward, and the Uptons are all top 10 at their positions. BJ should easily be in the top 10 now that Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and Josh Hamilton are no longer CF. He was number 11 last year according to fangraphs.
Shoot…Bourn at 48 million and Prado at 40 sounds better than the Uptons at 110.
Bourne sort of miscalculated the market. Not that 48 million bucks is chump change.
@46, If either of the Uptons live up to their potential, 110 for them is going to seem like a bargain. I’m personally happy that the Braves weren’t satisfied with consistency, but instead went for the risk and incredible upside. It’s not my money, after all.
@46- Not to me it doesn’t. 🙁
You could convince me that Bourne at 4/48 is better than Bupton at 5/75. Actually, I think I might prefer Bourne. But Jupton’s contract is far superior to Prado’s.
Rosenthal said the Braves were willing to do 4 years at $10-$12 per, I think. But at the time they thought his asking price was much higher so pursued other options. I’m glad they didn’t wait around on the off chance that no one had signed Bourne by February.
That said, I tend to agree with @48 & @49.
Braves getting Uptons lowered Bourne’s price. We would not have gotten him that cheap and what is value of pick we would lose?
PECOTA projections are out, fwiw. Since no one has commented on them here, I’ll say that they look pretty good for the Braves. Not really a lot of disasters in the lineup, and they project bounce-backs from McCann and Uggla. Best part: surprisingly little “collapse” probability outside of Andrelton, and pretty solid chances for improvement over last year nearly across the board.
A strong top-to-bottom lineup that plays good defense…. Yep. That’s what I see when I look at the Braves’ roster. And ignore 3B. ^_^
@51, Didn’t we already lose our pick for BJ Upton?
@50, If that’s the case, I think it indicates that the Braves would have comfortably gone to 4/15 or 5/13 for Bourn (if they were actually starting conversations at 10-12/year for 4 years… the Braves are notoriously cheap with these things, it seems). That makes me think that Bourn probably was looking for something like 5/75 or 5/90, given that talks progressed nowhere. I think he’d have gotten it had the Mets not made a big deal of the 11 pick, or the Twins weren’t stupid enough to trade two MLB center fielders to our division rivals for chump change (okay, maybe not the Philly deal, but that Span deal was just awful), or Arizona hadn’t decided to trade Chris Young, or maybe even if Hamilton hadn’t gone to Texas.
In the end, it seems that everything that could have gone wrong for Bourn this offseason did. Too bad, too; the guy has been criminally underrated and really did deserve his payday.
Oh yes, and Shane Victorino is earning more annually than Michael Bourn.
Franklin’s is the best BBQ in Austin. Going south a bit to Lockhart is also a good bet (Black’s, Smittys).
@53 Yep. But we will gain one for losing Bourne after first round
If Cleveland is in bottom 10 they will just not lose one.
I think the Braves genuinely like BJ Upton more than Bourn.
They were connected to Upton several times before they acquired Bourn. And going all the way to 5/75 with Upton without even really checking in on Bourn doesn’t sound like “We thought he’d be out of our price range, so we never bothered.” The alternative turned out to be the biggest FA deal in franchise history. Not what I’d call a shrewd budgetary alternative ..
I think they just believe in Upton’s tools more than Bourn, who has basically actualized his potential. Can’t say I blame them. He’s been a very useful player as it is, without ever having but everything together in a single season.
As an aside, looking at the drastically different kinds of seasons BJ has had, I wonder how much bring part of such a sputtering offense effected his approach. I wonder if maybe he made a series of concious efforts to “be more (fill-in-the-blank) this year.”
As I wrote a month ago: “I think that it’s very possible that the reason that Upton’s walks have declined in recent years is that he was pressing to live up to expectations, and so he sold out for power. If that is the case, then he may have less pressure in Atlanta to do the same.”
I think that Upton’s diminishing plate discipline and increasing homers in recent years may have been connected to the pressure that he was put under, from the moment he arrived in Tampa, to perform and be a star. The fact that Tampa’s offense was often mediocre-to-bad, and tied to a superstar third baseman who was slightly injury-prone, can’t have helped. In Atlanta he won’t be under the same kind of pressure. He may not have the limitless potential that he had when he was 20, but he won’t have the same negative pressures that he faced then.
@57 They’ll still lose a pick, just not the first rounder. In this case the third, since they lost the second round pick when they signed Swisher. That’s my understanding, anyway.
@60, Yeah, they’ll lose the 69th overall pick (a ‘competitive balance’ pick, apparently)
@56, Thanks for clarifying that. I had misunderstood your original comment.
@58, I think that sums up what happened really well. Had Bourn been available for something completely unrealistic like 4/40, the Braves might have swooped him up. I think you’re right though, Bourn and Upton were probably looking for similar amounts and the Braves definitely preferred Upton.
Well, Bossman Jr won’t have to worry this year about playing with an injury-prone superstar third baseman. So, he can relax and let the goodness flow.
Year three and four and that Bourn deal probably won’t look as good as the Upton deal
@59
But he could have issues trying to “live up to his contract”
“In the end, it seems that everything that could have gone wrong for Bourn this offseason did. Too bad, too; the guy has been criminally underrated and really did deserve his payday.”
I know it’s hard living on $12 million a year but I expect that Bourn will somehow still be able to put food on his table.
@65 – Yeah, 48 million bucks is a lot of dough no matter how you slice and dice it. Yeah it sucks that he didn’t get 75 or 80 but I ain’t crying for him.
Looking at similar players for Bourn, Brett Butler is #2 on the list and he seems like a really good comp for Bourn. If Bourn takes Butler’s career path, that contract will only be about half of what Bourn is worth. Isn’t it true that players like Bourn don’t decline very fast?
Looking at player comps for Prado is a bit tricky as it seems Prado has a work ethic beyond the majority of Major Leaguers. I hope my statement @46 is wrong but 9 years of Prado and Bourn at 100 million seems like a better deal than 8 of Upton and Upton at 110. Both Uptons have had flashes of brilliance combined with years of maddening results, while both Bourn and Prado have been undervalued by the entire major leagues because they were never uber prospects and/or never played for the Yanks or Red Sox.
I like the potential of the Uptons, but the inconsistency from year to year scares me. I hope I’m very wrong.
Edit: And yes, I do agree that we could have never signed Bourn for that contract so my concern is moot.
I think representing at 5/75 and signing at 4/48 as the fallback was pretty close to the plan all along. Bourn and Boras can’t feel too badly about this.
Also, 4 Alabama football players have been arrested for robbery.
http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/team/1360676633-236-118/report-as-many-as-4.html
And the hat idea has been dropped
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/21686937
Anybody know what is required for the 5th year to vest? 5/60 makes it a whole lot better for Bourn.
@46, 67 – I’m not getting it. Prado is older NOW than Jupton will be at the END of his contract. And Jupton’s career-worst season was as about on par almost any season Prado has had in his career.
You should probably just reduce your argument to “Bourn’s a better deal than Bupton.”
To which I would respond: Bourn’s “value” (in terms of WAR) is based almost exclusively on defense. Defense is the most untrustworthy portion of any “win” based evaluation.
Bourn has never slugged .400. Not even one time. Upton has slugged under .400 only once. And despite the knock on BJ Upton for his on-base struggles… he’s a career .336 to Bourn’s .339. And Bourn is two years older than Upton. And sure.. Kenny Lofton. How about.. Chone Figgins?
So Upton got $3m more each year, and one extra year. Sounds like an overpay. But if you believe that Upton is slightly under-rated defensively and Bourn is slightly over-rated, as the Braves have expressed, then that evens the gap.
But if Bourn’s a better deal than Upton.. he’s a better deal at a price that IS THE RESULT OF US SIGNING UPTON.
And what gap there is doesn’t not overcome the huge difference between Prado and Jupton.
But if Bourn’s a better deal than Upton.. he’s a better deal at a price that IS THE RESULT OF US SIGNING UPTON.
Exactly. I wrote and deleted a longer post to this effect last night.
If we hadn’t signed Bupton and were still in the bidding for Bourn, almost by definition, Bourn would’ve gotten higher than 4/48 or 5/60 because we would’ve had to compete with the Indians, at least.
Apparently the Mets offered 4/48 as well, but wanted Bourn to wait a couple weeks until they got a ruling on their draft pick. With spring training on the way, he opted not to.
The fifth year vests if he gets 550 PA in the fourth year of the deal. Bourn’s been generally healthy in his career; here are his PA counts in each of his five full seasons in the big leagues: 514, 678, 605, 722, 703.
Over those five years, he has averaged 4.3 PA per game played, which means that he’d get to 550 PA in about 128 games. Unless injuries absolutely wreck him (or he gets moved out of leadoff), I think it’s a pretty good bet that this will be a 5 year, $60 million deal.
Mets, LOL.
@71
You mean the huge potential of Jupton, as his average performances year to year haven’t been far superior to Prado’s. Sure, age is a factor, but shouldn’t desire to succeed also be considered? As his teammates point out, Prado’s desire is 2nd to none.
You also have to look at something else here. The Braves didn’t sign BJ to replace Bourn, per say, but to replace Chipper.
I have no idea of how Bourne may decline in next 4 years, but he surely declined second half of 2012.
That’s actually very in character for Bourn in his career. He wears down in the second half. Here’s his OPS by month:
April/March: .726
May: .682
June: .765
July: .701
August: .685
Sept/Oct: .660
A 24 year old, with 3000 PA’s and a career OPS .832 compared to a 28 year old with 2500 PA’s and career OPS .780?
But yes, of course it’s about potential. You’re betting what they WILL DO, based on a combination of what they’ve done before and how old were they when they did it. We’ve 24 year olds with 0 career ML PA’s that we still believe in. This guy has 3000 PA’s and an .832 OPS.
Power is down in MLB. Having 6 guys who are virtual locks for 20 HR, most of whom are likely to flirt with 30 could really set this club apart.
So… projected Pecota Standings:
NLE
Washington 88-74
Atlanta 82-80
New York 80-82
Philadelphia 80-82
Miami 66-96
NLC
Cincinnati 92-70
St. Louis 84-78
Milwaukee 79-83
Pittsburgh 79-83
Chicago 77-85
NLW
Los Angeles 93-69
San Francisco 85-77
Arizona 84-78
San Diego 76-86
Colorado 72-90
ALE
New York 92-70
Boston 86-76
Tampa 86-76
Toronto 85-77
Baltimore 74-88
ALC
Detroit 92-70
Cleveland 80-82
Chicago 77-85
Kansas City 76-86
Minnesota 66-96
ALW
Los Angeles 90-72
Texas 87-75
Oakland 83-79
Seattle 79-83
Houston 63-99
Certainly some interesting projections. Apparently we’re a .500 team, but that’s not as surprising as Washington being projected for the third-best record in the NL. Two games separating the Mets and us… that’s also surprising. Really, everything looks about right apart from the NL East.
@80
I think I’m playing devils advocate here, as I completely understand the thought process but cannot bring myself to believe in it. I know that the Uptons over the course of the next 4 years are supposed to outperform Prado and Bourn but I just cannot convince myself that it will happen.
82-80 probably mean Fredi is in trouble (unless it is due to injuries…)
I would also take the under on Houston winning 63 games.
@82 Those PECOTA projections look pretty weird – I’d agree that they generally got the expected order of finish within each division right, with the notable exception of the AL East (I’d put the Jays at the top of the division, right above the Yanks). On the NL side, I think PECOTA has significantly underestimated both the Nats and Braves, and overestimated the Dodgers.
As far as I’m aware, most people have taken PECOTA with a grain of salt since Nate Silver left Baseball Prospectus. It’s had a lot of wacky-looking results over the last few years.
@82 Don’t buy it. Not for a second.
2006 was the only year since the strike shortened 1995 season that had only two teams >= 89 wins in the NL. Call me skeptical
Having seen the same movie many years in a row, I generally overestimate the Yankees’ divisional chances, but I’ll take the under this year. This team is older than Miss Jane Pittman.
Spring Training is here!!! Spring training is here!!!
UK will lose by 10-20 points tonight at UF.
The Indians got a steal with Bourn for 4/$48 (realistically 5/$60 as someone noted above).
Heyward looks ripped.
82 – 80 would be immensely disappointing, even with Fredi at the helm of this ship.
Did Kyle Lohse ever sign? What is he seeking?
Those projections have to be about starting pitching. You have to admit that’s pretty important and our rotation has some question marks.
I am guessing PECOTA does not believe in Minor and Medlen like most of us do.
I really doubt that anyone in the NL Central is going to win 90 games. Now that the Astros have left, you could really take 3 or 4 wins away from any of those teams. Last year, Houston went
4-11 against St. Louis
5-10 against Cincinnati
5-12 against Pittsburgh
That +7, +5, and +7 win margin isn’t going to be there for the Central this year.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that our starting pitching ends the year ranked 11th in WAR. Medlen and Minor are going to be good, Teheran is not going to -as- sucky, Maholm and Hudson will be a tick above-average and comfortable 3s. Beachy is going to return and win 9 games down the stretch.
Heyward looks like an action figure.
Juan looks good, too. Though, the real difference is unclear to me, as all the “fit Juan” pics have been of him in his under-armour shirts, and I had never seen him in anything but his baggy jersey prior to the “fit Juan” stories.
But he’ll certainly give himself a better shot by being even Miguel Cabrera sized, rather than Pablo Sandoval sized.
Count me as still concerned about our pitching depth. We’re coming up on Mike Minor’s (Venters? Kimbrel?!) turn to take a mandatory season off for elbow surgery.
Holy moly, Jason is ripped.
Gerald Laird looks like a young Fredi Gonzalez:
http://www.ajc.com/gallery/sports/baseball/braves-pitching-camp/g7gR/#3062853
@97
He looks like he should be coaching 3rd base.
Kimbrel has a very fugly hat on his head…
@98
I have a bad feeling it will be Kimbrel’s turn
http://www.ajc.com/gallery/sports/baseball/braves-begin-workouts/g7wM/#3107334
Ahhhhhhh, the White Bear.
Wait. Does this mean Jason Heyward and B.J. Upton hook up in next season’s sequel, but only after some really, really awkward pseudo-romantic scenes between Justin and B.J. this year?
Because dude. That’s going to be weird.
Apologies for the belated thanks, ububba and one eye… just coming out of a brisket/sausage coma. (michael as well, but I didn’t get there)
Lambert’s or Iron Works?
@100, That album is has the Uptons confused in pictures 4 and 5, right? This maybe the start of a season trend… or can I not tell them apart? Also, Heyward’s left bicep at picture 6. My goodness.
104 — I too wondered if they’re going to learn the difference between the two of them.
@104 – BJ kind of looks like a right-handed Crime Dog at the plate.
Otis Nixon is back in the news: http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/1912711
ububba: Iron Works (and Franklin’s, but not on the same day)
Just watched the Florida/KY game. What an awesome game until Noel got hurt. 🙁
I was nervous going into it since I’d seen an ESPN doing a lot of coverage of Noel while I was out tonight, but turns out the reason wasn’t a dominant performance on his part. Quite the contrary, actually. While Noel was certainly a dominant force, it was Patrick Murphy who looked like the better player tonight. And what a game from Casey Prather. I was cursing at him non-stop during the Arkansas game, but I guess he just needed a few games to get back to 100% or something, because he was good against Mississippi State last Saturday, and he was a revelation tonight. Making great cuts, getting easy hoops, and playing OUTSTANDING defense. It wasn’t a great shooting night for UF, and they got beat badly in transition a lot, but Kentucky was exactly the sort of team I though Florida would have trouble with, and UF showed up huge.
We’ll see if Florida can do it on Kentucky’s home court in a few weeks, and I hope by then Noel will be back at 100%. I’m pumped. 😀
@104 They look right to me, though perhaps they changed them since you posted. BJ is the more slender one on the right and the one hitting.
@110, Yup, it seems that they changed it.
@99
I’m not too worried about Kimbrel’s arm. He hasn’t pitched a ton of innings, like Venters in ’10 (83) and ’11 (88).
It is nice to have Luis “The Untoucháble” Avilán waiting in the wings, just in case.
Hope Noel isn’t seriously injured, though it certainly doesn’t look good. That would be a real shame.
Early rumor is that it’s a dislocated or torn patellar tendon.
I did that playing basketball when I was younger. I guess there’s a worse pain, but I never felt it. You can’t get to the ground fast enough.
Probably gone for the season.
Gators look good. Class of the SEC this year, for sure.
@112 – look at all those tildes. Now you’re just showin’ off.
How did you do that, by the way?
I look forward to a few years of “one of the Uptons” captions.
I want to know who did the captions for that gallery. “Jason Heyward does batting practice”? You don’t do batting practice, you take it.
Sigh.
@117, Heyward does what he wants.
@115
On most keyboards it is Option+E followed by keystroke.
Let’s play ball already.
@115
I cheated and just copy/pasted from the Yahoo! depth chart
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/atl/depthchart
I can’t remember ever seeing a Brave with a sweeter swing from the right side of the plate than JUpton. It’s perfect. Heyward’s swing looks almost ridiculous in comparison. He’s got his shoulder diving in and arms and hands and elbows moving all over the place. The contrast is perhaps strengthened by the fact that he’s built like a comic book superhero.
New thread.